Device for use in painting a columnar structure

ABSTRACT

A device for use in painting a columnar structure, such as a flagpole or mast, comprises a double-conical roller and a pliable or resilient coating roller spaced apart and coupled together to form a carriage, which can be applied to the columnar structure with the rollers engaging the latter at different levels from opposite sides to guide the device for movement up and down the structure, and which carries a paint receptacle providing for paint to be supplied to the coating roller.

United States Patent Inventor Nils Gustav Tage Petersson Eskas, Klavrestrom, Sweden Appl. No. 57,225 Filed July 22, 1970 Patented Jan. 11, 1972 Priority Aug. 7, 1969 Germany G 69 31 178.0

DEVICE FOR USE IN PAINTING A COLUMNAR STRUCTURE 12 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

0.8. CI 1 18/208, 118/262, 184/17 Int. Cl. 1305c l/08 Fleld o1 Searc 15/88, 256.6; 118/207, 262, 208, 305, 307, 257; 184/17, 101

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 439,9l6 11/1890 Whittlesey ll8/257X 945,622 III 910 Slaughter 184/17 FOREIGN PATENTS 433,266 8/1935 Great Britain 15/88 Primary Examiner-John P. Mclntosh An0rneys Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato ABSTRACT: A device for use in painting a columnar structure, such as a flagpole or mast, comprises a double-conical roller and a pliable or resilient coating roller spaced apart and coupled together to form a carriage, which can be applied to the columnar structure with the rollers'engaging the latter at different levels from opposite sides to guide the device for movement up and down the structure, and which carries a paint receptacle providing for paint to be supplied to the coatting roller.

DEVICE FOR USE IN PAINTING A CQLUMNAR STRUCTURE This invention concerns a device for use in painting a columnar structure, such as a flagpole or mast, and has for its object to provide a device, as aforesaid, which is comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and yet enables a columnar structure to be painted quickly and efficiently with the minimum of inconvenience and without the need for having to climb the structure.

With this object in view, the present invention provides a device, as aforesaid, comprising a carriage including a doubleconical guide roller, a resilient coating roller which serves also as a guide roller, and coupling means coupling said doubleconical guide roller and said coating roller in spaced-apart relation for engagement with opposite sides of a columnar structure to be painted, to guide said carriage for movement up and down said structure; suspension means enabling said carriage to be suspended from a halyard on said structure whereby said carriage can be moved up and down said structure; and a paint receptacle, carried by said carriage, for supplying paint to said coating roller for application thereby to said structure.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, it will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation illustrating a preferred embodiment of the device of the invention in position on a flagpole with its components in their operative disposition for painting said flagpole; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation taken at right angles to FIG. 1, and showing the same device, with parts broken away, and with a portion of the flagpole omitted so as to avoid obscuring the detail of the device.

As shown in the drawings, a preferred embodiment of the device for painting columnar structures, such as flagpoles, masts and the like, comprises a double-conical guide roller 1 composed of two hollow frustoconical cone sections arranged in axial alignment with their apices abutting and, if desired, secured together. Located within each of said cone sections, so as to be disposed in respective planes parallel to the planes of the bases of said sections, are respective bearing discs 2 each of which has a respective frustoconical rim or flange 3 abutting closely against the inner surface of the respective cone section and secured thereto, for example, by rivetting. The two-bearing discs 2 and openings in the cone apices of the cone section of the guide roller I serve to locate an inner bearing sleeve 4 axially within the guide roller 1, such inner bearing sleeve 4 projecting by its ends through said bearing discs 2 and having end flanges 5 on said ends and butting against the outer faces of said bearing discs 2. An outer bearing sleeve 6 abuts against one of the end flanges 5 and is disposed so as effectively to constitute an extension of the inner bearing sleeve 4. A guide roller axle 7 extends through the inner and outer bearing sleeves 4 and 6 and has a split pin 8 through its end remote from the outer bearing sleeve 6 to prevent disengagement of the bearing sleeves 4 and 6, and therefore the guide roller 1, from the axle 7.

The axle 7 is provided at one end of and integrally with a receptacle support rod 9 which extends radially upwards from said axle 7, the latter constituting a right-angled end of the receptacle support rod 9. Correspondingly, a coupling rod 10, which is somewhat longer than the receptacle support rod 9, extends radially upwards from the outer end of the outer bearing sleeve 6.

The upper ends of the two rods 9 and 10 are each bent at right angles, so as to extend from the respective rods in the same direction as and substantially parallel to the guide roller axle 7, to form, respectively, a receptacle axle 11 whereon a receptacle bearing sleeve 13, having end washers 15, is retained by a split pin 17, and a coating roller axle 12 whereon a coating roller bearing sleeve 14, having end washers 16, is retained by a respective split pin 18.

Swingably carried by the receptacle axle 11 is an upwardly open troughlike paint receptacle 19 the end walls of which are retained between the washers 15 and the confronting ends of the receptacle bearing sleeve 13. Disposed within the receptacle 19, on the axle 11, is a paint transfer roller 20 which is freely rotatable with the bearing sleeve 13 and which is preferably made of rigid or hard foam, for example that commercially available under the registered trademark Styropor. Connected to the receptacle axle 11 by the latter extending through openings in the lower ends of its limbs, is an inverted- U-shaped suspension yoke 21 which constitutes suspension means of the device. The limbs of such yoke 21 are long so as to provide a substantial clearance between the crosspiece of said yoke 21 (on which crosspiece a suspension eye, ring, hook or the like 22 is provided) and the transfer roller 20. The eye, ring, hook or the like 22 enables the device to be suspended from the upper end 23 of a flag halyard. Rotatably mounted, by the coating roller bearing sleeve 14, on the coating roller axle 12 is a resilient or deformable coating roller 24. This coating roller 24 comprises a pair of end discs 25, provided at each end of the coating roller bearing sleeve 14 and made of a pliable resilient material such as spring steel, and a cylindrical element, tube or sheath 26 of pliable material, such as fabric, skin or the like, the ends of said element, tube or sheath 26 being taken over the ends discs 25 and drawn radially inwards somewhat to retain them in position, as can be seen in FIG. 1. This mode of securing the element, tube or sheath 26 ensures that the latter is under at least light tension in its axial direction.

The coupling rod 10 and the receptacle supporting rod 9 are interconnected, at a level below the paint receptacle 19, by a release bar 27 which is pivotally connected to the coupling rod 10 at a selected one of a plurality of pivot holes 28 and extends through a retaining eye 29 provided on the receptacle supporting rod 9. As illustrated, the retaining eye 29 is abutting against a stop in the form of a pin 30, projecting through the release bar 27, which pin 30 serves to determine an operative pivoted disposition of the receptacle support rod 9 relative to the coupling rod 10, corresponding to the transfer roller 20 contacting the coating roller 24. At its end remote from the coupling rod 10 a recess 31 is provided in the release bar 27 and it will be appreciated that by pivotal separation of the coupling rod 10 and the receptacle supporting rod 9 the retaining eye 29 can be brought into register with and caused to engage into the recess 31, a spring 32 between the receptacle axle 11 and the release bar 27 biassing the latter upwards to retain the retaining eye 29 in the recess 31, which corresponds to an inoperative pivoted disposition of the receptacle support rod 9, wherein the transfer roller 20 is separated from the coating roller 24. A hole 33 in the free end of the release bar 27 enables the latter to have the lower end 34 of the flag halyard to be connected thereto.

The mode of operation of the device will readily be understood from the above description and the drawings, which illustrate the device in position on a flagpole or mast 35 part only of which is illustrated. It will be appreciated that the halyard, whose upper and lower ends 23, 34 have already been referred to, is taken through a pulley (not shown) at the top of the flagpole or mast 35. The device is positioned, as shown, with the guide roller abutting the pole or mast 35 at one side at a lower level than the coating roller 24 which abuts the opposite side of the pole or mast, and is suspended by the suspension eye 22 from the upper end 23 of the halyard so that the weight of the device tends to cause the latter to pivot about an axis provided by the receptacle axle 11 in an anticlockwise direction in FIG. 1 to ensure contact of the rollers 1 and 24 with the opposite sides of the pole or'mast 35. As already described, the lower end 34 of the halyard is connected to the release bar 27, and when the device is initially applied to the pole or mast 35, the receptacle supporting rod 9 is pivoted to its inoperative position with the retaining eye 29 engaging in the recess 31. The receptacle 19 is now filled with an appropriate paint and it will be appreciated that because the receptacle 19 is swingably mounted on the receptacle axle l 1, it always assumes a properly upright disposition regardless of whether the receptacle supporting rod 9 is in the operative or inoperative position.

Experience shows that it is usually most satisfactory to paint a flagpole, mast or other columnar structure from its top downwards. Accordingly, to paint the pole or mast 35, are now hoists the device to the uppermost position on the pole or mast 35 by means of the halyard, the guide roller 1 and the coating roller 24 both serving to guide the device in its movement and rolling on the opposite sides of the pole or mast 35. The flexibility or resilience of the end discs 25, and the tautness of the cylindrical element, tube or sheath 26 is so selected in relation to the weight of the device that the coating roller 24 permits the pole or mast 35 effectively to sink into the roller 24 between the end discs 25 which tend to be drawn into engagement with the pole or mast 35. Upon the device reaching the uppermost position on the pole or mast 35, the lower end 34 of the halyard is pulled to pivot the retaining bar 27 downwards and permit the retaining eye 29 to disengage from the recess 31, so that the parts of the device assume the dispositions illustrated in the drawings, with the transfer roller engaging the coating roller 24.

The device is now permitted to roll down the pole or mast 35 under its own weight, the rotation of the coating roller 24 then causing corresponding rotation of the transfer roller 20 which accordingly transfers paint from the receptacle [9 to the coating roller 24 which applies it to the pole or mast 35.

Since, as already described, the pole or mast 35 tends to sink into the coating roller 24 whose end discs are caused to flex towards are another, the paint is applied to the pole or mast 35 over a region thereof corresponding to at least a third and perhaps almost a half of its circumference, and not just on a restricted tangential region thereof as would be the case if the coating roller were relatively inflexible. Accordingly it is possible to paint the entire mast with two or three up and down movements of the device.

The invention is not confined to the precise details of the foregoing example and variations may be made thereto within the scope of the following claims.

lclairn:

l. A device, for use in painting a columnar structure, comprising:

a carriage including:

a. a double-conical guide roller;

b. a resilient coating roller which serves also as a guide roller; and

c. coupling means coupling said double-conical glide roller and said coating roller in spaced-apart relation for engagement with opposite sides of a columnar structure to be painted, to guide said carriage for movement up and down said structure;

suspension means enabling said carriage to be suspended from a halyard on said structure, whereby said carriage can be moved up and down said structure, and

a paint receptacle, carried by said carriage, for supplying paint to said coating roller for application thereby to said structure.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said coupling means provides for said rollers to engage said structure at different levels with said double-conical guide roller at a lower level than said coating roller.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said double-conical guide roller comprises two hollow frustoconical cone sections arranged in axial alignment with their apices abutting, a pair of bearing discs located one in each of said cone sections in respective planes parallel to the planes of the bases of said sections, and an inner bearing sleeve connecting said bearing discs and extending through said apices of said cone sections.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3 further including an outer bearing sleeve disposed as an extension of said inner bearing sleeve, said coupling means comprising, a coupling rod extendin radially from said outer bearing sleeve and having at its en remote from said outer bearing sleeve, a coating roller axle whereon said coating roller is mounted, a receptacle support rod connecting with and extending radially from a guide roller axle accommodated in both said inner bearing sleeve and said outer bearing sleeve, said receptacle supporting rod supporting said receptacle adjacent said coating roller.

5. A device as set forth in claim 4 wherein said coating roller axle is provided by a right-angled end of said coupling rod, and a right-angled end of said receptacle support rod extends as a receptacle axle through said paint receptacle and supports said paint receptacle swingably.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5 wherein said receptacle axle has mounted thereon, within said receptacle, a transfer roller which serves to transfer paint from said receptacle to said coating roller.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said suspension means comprises an inverted-U-shaped yoke which spans said receptacle and is provided with a suspension eye for connection to said halyard.

8. A device as set forth in claim 7 wherein said resilient coating roller comprises a pair of spaced-apart end discs of spring steel, and a cylindrical element of pliable material extending between said end discs.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8 wherein the resilience of said end discs and the tautness of said cylinder of pliable material are so selected in relation to the weight of said device that those portions of said discs corresponding to that part of said tube of pliable material which is in engagement with said columnar structure are drawn towards one another to tend to improve the guidance of said coating roller on said structure and to increase the area of contact between said coating roller and said structure.

10. A device as set forth in claim 9 further including a release bar extending between said coupling rod and said receptacle rupport rod, a stop on said release bar cooperating with a retaining eye on said receptacle support rod to define an operative pivoted disposition of said receptacle support rod wherein said transfer roller engages with said coating roller, a recess in said release bar being engageable by said retaining eye to retain said receptacle support rod in an inoperative pivoted disposition wherein said transfer roller is disengaged from said coating roller.

11. A device as set forth in claim 10 further including a spring biassing said release bar upwards for retention of said retaining eye in said recess, and means enabling a respective end of said halyard to be connected to said release bar for shifting said release bar against the action of said spring to permit disengagement of said retaining eye from said recess and said receptacle support rod to move to its said operative pivoted disposition.

12. A device as set forth in claim I I wherein said suspension means is offset relative to the rotational axis of said guide roller so that the weight of said device tends to cause said receptacle support rod to assume it operative pivoted disposition. 

1. A device, for use in painting a columnar structure, comprising: a carriage including: a. a double-conical guide roller; b. a resilient coating roller which serves also as a guiDe roller; and c. coupling means coupling said double-conical guide roller and said coating roller in spaced-apart relation for engagement with opposite sides of a columnar structure to be painted, to guide said carriage for movement up and down said structure; suspension means enabling said carriage to be suspended from a halyard on said structure, whereby said carriage can be moved up and down said structure, and a paint receptacle, carried by said carriage, for supplying paint to said coating roller for application thereby to said structure.
 2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said coupling means provides for said rollers to engage said structure at different levels with said double-conical guide roller at a lower level than said coating roller.
 3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said double-conical guide roller comprises two hollow frustoconical cone sections arranged in axial alignment with their apices abutting, a pair of bearing discs located one in each of said cone sections in respective planes parallel to the planes of the bases of said sections, and an inner bearing sleeve connecting said bearing discs and extending through said apices of said cone sections.
 4. A device as set forth in claim 3 further including an outer bearing sleeve disposed as an extension of said inner bearing sleeve, said coupling means comprising, a coupling rod extending radially from said outer bearing sleeve and having, at its end remote from said outer bearing sleeve, a coating roller axle whereon said coating roller is mounted, a receptacle support rod connecting with and extending radially from a guide roller axle accommodated in both said inner bearing sleeve and said outer bearing sleeve, said receptacle supporting rod supporting said receptacle adjacent said coating roller.
 5. A device as set forth in claim 4 wherein said coating roller axle is provided by a right-angled end of said coupling rod, and a right-angled end of said receptacle support rod extends as a receptacle axle through said paint receptacle and supports said paint receptacle swingably.
 6. A device as set forth in claim 5 wherein said receptacle axle has mounted thereon, within said receptacle, a transfer roller which serves to transfer paint from said receptacle to said coating roller.
 7. A device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said suspension means comprises an inverted-U-shaped yoke which spans said receptacle and is provided with a suspension eye for connection to said halyard.
 8. A device as set forth in claim 7 wherein said resilient coating roller comprises a pair of spaced-apart end discs of spring steel, and a cylindrical element of pliable material extending between said end discs.
 9. A device as set forth in claim 8 wherein the resilience of said end discs and the tautness of said cylinder of pliable material are so selected in relation to the weight of said device that those portions of said discs corresponding to that part of said tube of pliable material which is in engagement with said columnar structure are drawn towards one another to tend to improve the guidance of said coating roller on said structure and to increase the area of contact between said coating roller and said structure.
 10. A device as set forth in claim 9 further including a release bar extending between said coupling rod and said receptacle rupport rod, a stop on said release bar cooperating with a retaining eye on said receptacle support rod to define an operative pivoted disposition of said receptacle support rod wherein said transfer roller engages with said coating roller, a recess in said release bar being engageable by said retaining eye to retain said receptacle support rod in an inoperative pivoted disposition wherein said transfer roller is disengaged from said coating roller.
 11. A device as set forth in claim 10 further including a spring biassing said release bar upwards for retention of said retaining eye in said recess, and means enabling a respective end of said halyard to be connected to said release bar for shifting said release bar against the action of said spring to permit disengagement of said retaining eye from said recess and said receptacle support rod to move to its said operative pivoted disposition.
 12. A device as set forth in claim 11 wherein said suspension means is offset relative to the rotational axis of said guide roller so that the weight of said device tends to cause said receptacle support rod to assume it operative pivoted disposition. 